TransCanada to file 2 legal challenges to Keystone rejection

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald-AP

HOUSTON (AP) — The Canadian company that proposed the Keystone XL oil pipeline has filed a lawsuit over the U.S. government's rejection of the project and says it plans a second legal challenge.

TransCanada on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit in Houston alleging President Barack Obama's decision in November to kill the pipeline exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution.

The company also announced it will submit a separate petition seeking more than $15 billion in damages, alleging the U.S. breached its obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The energy industry had argued the pipeline would create thousands of jobs and inject billions into the economy. Environmental activists spent years denouncing the pipeline.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/nation/transcanada-to-file-legal-challenges-to-keystone-rejection/article_2ed78714-b794-50f0-b93e-2514287ec406.html

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Why don't you corporate thugs take it up with ISDS

We won't listen to them, either.

[PSPS]

2. NAFTA strikes again.

[davidpdx]

3. The first suit is a sure loser

The one on NAFTA I think they have a higher chance with.

[pampango]

4. I don't think either stands much of a chance but the federal suit in a Texas court

claims that Obama exceeded his constitutional power in rejecting the pipeline. It might succeed. republicans have had some luck with such suits and this one was filed in Texas so the climate is favorable for conservatives.

To succeed in the NAFTA filing TransCanada would, as I understand Chapter 11, have to prove that it was treated differently than an American pipeline company would have been.

... each NAFTA Party must accord investors from the other NAFTA Parties national (i.e. non-discriminatory) treatment and may not expropriate investments of those investors except in accordance with international law.

http://www.state.gov/s/l/c3439.htm

TransCanada says it has also filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Federal Court in Texas asserting that President Barack Obama's decision to deny construction of Keystone XL exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution. "The denial reflected an unprecedented exercise of presidential power and intruded on Congress's power under the Constitution to regulate interstate and international commerce," TransCanada said.

A group of environmental, land and tribal organizations — including the Sierra Club and 350.org — issued a statement saying the company was "throwing the corporate equivalent of a temper tantrum" in hopes of "forcing American taxpayers to pay them billions of dollars to recoup their losses." The group called it an "ill-fated project that they spent seven years trying to bully the U.S. into letting them build."

Greenpeace Canada agreed, saying the company's arguments do not add up. "Their legal argument is, since no president before has taken serious action on climate change, Obama shouldn't be allowed to either," Keith Stewart of Greenpeace Canada said. Cyndee Cherniak of LexSage said the odds are historically against TransCanada ...

See the lawsuit documents that TransCanada filed here.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/transcanada-lawsuit-keystone-xl-pipeline-1.3392446

It is not surprising that TransCanada would want a republican, pro-pipeline congress to make the decision on the pipeline.

[mdbl]

5. Isn't it wonderful that we live in a time

where repuglicans have emboldened a foreign corporation to sue the President of our country for a decision that doesn't benefit them? As Mike Malloy says, "Have i said today how much I hate these people?"